On transferring an underwater vessel into a body of water, the exchange of information takes place between the starting device and the underwater vessel via fiber-optic cables. Glass fiber cables, which are cross-wound in glass fiber reels to ensure reliable unwinding, are generally used for this purpose.
Glass fiber reels are used in the underwater vessel and in sinkers or, where necessary, on launching ramps. After an underwater vessel has been transferred, the glass fiber reels unroll due to the forces of inertia or the forces occurring due to launching speed. After unwinding, a glass fiber reel cannot be reused since an adhesive medium is generally used to bind the glass fiber cables onto the spool. Furthermore, it is difficult to recover the unwound glass fiber cable from the water again.
The use of optical fiber reels involves a high degree of material consumption and high costs. This is undesirable, particularly in the training process, since here the operating personnel are only training in transferring the underwater vessel into the water and, where required, are supposed to perform a functional check of the transfer of information between the launching mechanism and the underwater vessel.
Optical fiber reels, however, must also be used in training since the optical fiber reels must be tested in order to guarantee the thorough operational readiness of an underwater vessel. In practice, this means that completely intact glass fiber reels are deployed for training purposes, which subsequently, due to partial unwinding or destruction, may no longer be used for an actual operation.